Triangle
by MarillaT'Pel
Summary: Just a comparison of a Star Trek term and something I learned in school.  NOT a threesome!  K/S pre-slash, I don't own.  Rated, as always, as a precaution.  Now with second chapter/sequel.  Please review if you like it!
1. Triangles

**I first started really reading Star Trek fanfiction sometime in 2009, after the reboot movie came out. I learned a lot of terminology that I had to look up in order to fully understand what I was reading. I was inspired to write something along these lines after I first learned the word T'hy'la and its meanings, as well as a theory from a sociology class. Maybe no one else will agree with what I've written here, but I'd like to think some people will see the similarities that I saw between these two things. Warning! This story contains pre-slash, a smart Kirk, and a crushing Spock. I don't own Star Trek or the titular triangle. I've continued to rate as a precaution, since I'm not quite sure where the line is drawn with adult themes.**

Triangle

It was late afternoon on New Vulcan. Seated out on a patio-like balcony area were Captain James T. Kirk, Commander Spock, Doctor Leonard McCoy, Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, and Spock's counterpart, who now went by Selek. They were visiting the home shared by Selek and Spock's father, Sarek. It was a truly impressive home, having taken several months to finally be built. In addition to the two main bedrooms, they had three guest rooms. Jim took a moment to glance around at the circle of his friends. Spock and Uhura had broken up just a few weeks after the start of the mission, deciding that their relationship was not meant to be a romantic one, though they were still friends.

That had been about six months ago. Now it seemed she had her sights set on Bones, who was still hesitant about getting back into the dating game. While Jim wanted his friend to put himself out there again, he couldn't help but wonder what that would mean for him if they did start going out. Uhura still didn't really like him that much. He tried to let those thoughts go and went back to soaking in the end of the day rays of sunlight that weren't quite as harsh as during most light hours. They were all out of uniform and were mostly just reclining out in the dying heat, not talking about much. Selek suddenly broke the silence.

"Spock," he said, addressing his counterpart, "I received word today that T'Pring and Stonn have formalized their plans to bond. You may wish to consider searching for a mate yourself. I do not believe our father trusts his judgment enough risk a second attempt." Jim, always curious to learn more about his first officer, looked over at them.

"What are you talking about?" He asked Selek. It was Spock who answered him, tearing his glaring gaze away from his elder self.

"He is referring to the impending marriage of my former intended, and his opinion that I should this time seek out a mate for myself." Jim cocked his head.

"You mean you were supposed to marry this T'Pring chick? And you didn't decide that for yourself?" Spock nodded his head reluctantly.

"The closest human description I can use to describe it is a betrothal, although that is not entirely accurate. It was arranged by both of our parents when we were seven years old. We did not object, because this is how it has always been done, but we did not agree to it either."

"You mean you didn't really want to be 'betrothed' to her." Said Jim, understanding what he meant. Spock nodded his head minutely.

"I admit that neither one of us was particularly fond of the other. She, like many of our peers, believed that I was inferior due to my mixed genetic heritage. In light of the difficulties experienced by many, and the chaos that has ensued from so many Vulcans who have lost a bondmate and are seeking another, I decided it would be illogical to add to the Elder's problems by attempting to preserve something I was not amenable to in the first place. I did not particularly enjoy the thought of being permanently joined to someone who had such thoughts about me. My father has apparently chosen not to attempt securing a mate for me a second time, due to the fact that he now sees his first choice was not as adequate as he first thought." Jim just nodded.

"I don't think I would want to be with someone like that either." He let it go at that. Spock was grateful. He didn't know many humans who tried much to respect his boundaries, but Jim was making a serious effort. Selek, however, did not seem to think that it was necessary.

"Perhaps you will find you have better compatibility with someone who is not Vulcan. Perhaps you will even find someone who is T'hy'la." Spock and Uhura both looked at him, shocked by his openness in front of off-worlders. Jim and Bones looked on curiously.

"What's that?" Asked Jim. Spock tore his gaze away from Selek and back to Jim. His reply was slow, almost reluctant.

"T'hy'la is an ancient Vulcan word. Unlike most of our language, which is much more direct, it has multiple meanings that are significantly different from each other. It can mean friend, brother, or lover."

"So, you're looking for a lover?" Asked Jim. Spock hesitated again.

"What Elder Selek meant by finding T'hy'la is finding someone who can fulfill all three roles for their partner, and for whom their partner can do the same. Each definition can apply exclusively to someone, like a close friend, a biological relative, or a sexual partner, and many Vulcan's may likely find someone to whom they can apply one or two definitions, but it is very rare that one manages to find someone who meets all of them. Someone who provides the companionship of a friend, the trust of a brother, and the physical comfort of a lover. Such compatibility is almost unheard of today." He paused from his lecture for a breath. "I believe a close human equivalent would be a soul mate." Jim nodded thoughtfully.

"So, kind of like a Vulcan's love triangle." Uhura snorted from where she was sitting.

"Weren't you listening, Captain?" She asked, just a little bit of disdain in her voice. It was still a little hard to show respect to the man she'd had such negative thoughts about for those first three years they'd known each other. "He's talking about two people filling three roles for each other, not three people in a relationship." Jim was already shaking his head.

"That's not what I meant."

"What did you mean?" Asked Spock. There was no accusation in his voice, only honest curiosity. It was that curiosity that prompted Jim to explain.

"Back in the twentieth century, there was a psychologist, Robert Sternberg, who used the points and sides of an equilateral triangle to map out all the different kinds of love there are." Now it was Jim's turn to go into lecture mode. "The three points had the three components of all the different kinds of love; intimacy, passion, and commitment. Intimacy is emotional closeness, passion is the sexual aspect, and commitment is the intention to maintain the relationship. There are three kinds of love that only have one component to them, and they're also placed on the points. Those are: Liking, which is something you'd probably find with most friendships, infatuation, which is pure passion, and empty love, which is only based on commitment.

On the lines between the points, it showed combinations of two components. There's romantic love, which is passion and intimacy, but lacks any specified commitment. Then there's companionate love, which is intimacy and commitment. It's what you see between best friends, or maybe also family members who intend to remain a part of each other's lives despite taking different paths that lead to distance between them. And then there's fatuous love, which is passion and commitment, but lacks the emotional aspect of intimacy. A lot of these really aren't built to last, though sometimes they do." Jim paused for a moment to catch his breath, not accustomed to such a lengthy explanation.

"The big one though, is consummate love. It's shown on the inside of the triangle and has all three components. It's what a lot of people search for when they really get serious finding someone they can spend the rest of their life with, what they envision in an ideal relationship, or even in a soul mate. Sternberg said it's probably not only the hardest to find, but also the hardest to maintain because sometimes one or more of those components may fade away over time, causing it to become one of the 'lesser' forms of love." He paused again, and then added. "That's what I was thinking about when you started talking about the individual meanings of T'hy'la, and the possibility of having all three in one."

Spock, Bones, and Uhura were all looking at him surprised. They all knew that their captain was an intelligent man, but none of them expected him to know so much on that particular subject. It was still a little startling when Jim pulled out an answer or comparison they weren't expecting, and somehow it always made sense in the end. Most of the people who knew Jim no longer bothered trying to understand his line of reason. Somehow though, they never got used to hearing him sound so knowledgeable about a subject that had nothing to do with his line of work. McCoy was the one who voiced (in his own crude way) what they were thinking.

"Damn, Jim! Do ya just have a section in your brain set aside for random stuff?" The look on Uhura's face showed her to be in complete agreement with him. Jim chuckled.

"Something like that." Selek was the only one who didn't seem surprised. Rather, he seemed amused, watching them all with the tiniest of smiles on his face. Mostly the smile was for the fact that his young counterpart was looking at his captain with a mix surprise and respect. He knew all too well how rare it was for a human to come up with a valid comparison to a piece of Vulcan culture. It was one of the reasons they were so rarely inclined to share themselves with any of the other species' they associated with; they simply didn't think that those other species had the capacity to understand the Vulcan heart. He returned his attention to the setting sun, which was almost gone. The lights programmed to turn on if someone was out at that hour had just come on. He cleared his throat.

"I believe now would be a good time to return indoors and perhaps prepare for bed?" There was a general murmur of agreement from his guests. They all rose from their seats and headed indoors, bidding each other goodnight as they did so.

* * *

About half an hour later, Spock lay propped up against the pillows on his bed in the guest room. Just down the hall from him were Jim and McCoy, and further down was Nyota. Jim had told him that he and McCoy would room together to allow Spock and Nyota their privacy. It was only logical, Jim had told him, since he and McCoy had roomed together at the academy. He felt a flash of illogical envy for the doctor, getting to sleep in such close quarters with the attractive captain. He almost shook his head. He'd accepted his orientation long ago. While he found the female form pleasing, he had always felt a stronger physical attraction to males. Ultimately though, it all came down to mental compatibility.

As a telepathic race, Vulcans valued harmony between the minds above any other factor in their more personal relationships. It didn't matter if his next mate was male, female, Vulcan, or otherwise. If he could feel with his mind and heart that they were right for him, he would not care about their sex, gender, or species and they wouldn't care about his. Perhaps it was his human blood that was responsible for his feelings of physical attraction. He didn't bother to deny to himself that he found the captain to be very physically attractive. He'd been aware of Jim's pleasing appearance from the start, but the situation at hand, as well as the cadet's (at the time) questionable morals had led him to ignore it as he would with anyone else he had no romantic interest in. However, things had changed recently.

After working so closely with his now superior officer, he'd learned a few things about the man. He'd witnessed firsthand Jim's strong sense of right and wrong, and how he sometimes struggled to control his impulses to base his actions on that sense in the grey world of politics and negotiations he'd become involved in by joining Starfleet. There were moments when Jim's intellect staggered him, such as when he had to make elaborate plans while in the line of fire. He'd also witnessed Jim's strength, courage, and conviction in the few months since their five year mission began. But lately, he'd been seeing another side to the younger man. He'd seen how compassionate and understanding he was with his crew, many of whom were, like Spock, older than him. All of them admired and looked up to him.

There had been moments like today, where Jim had demonstrated knowledge no one expected him to have, like when Spock would talk about a project he was working on in the science labs only to realize that Jim actually understood and followed what he was talking about, or when he demonstrated impressive linguistic skills on a new planet without Uhura's help. Spock had also begun to see in Jim what humans termed 'his soft side.' Jim never hesitated to offer help to someone in need, and he never asked for anything in return. He often empathized with people in need. All in all, Jim was proving himself to be, in Spock's opinion, an exceptional human being.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and returned his attention to his personal padd, which had finished uploading Robert Sternberg's Triangular Theory of Love. He studied the triangle, the chart that followed it, and the list of definitions for the different kinds of love. He found himself even more impressed by Jim's perceptions of the connections between the theory and the concept of T'hy'la now that he was seeing them for himself. He also started applying the different kinds of love to the people in his life. Commitment, empty love, was likely the only thing he would have ever felt for T'Pring, had they gone ahead with the marriage. Companionate love seemed an apt description for what he felt for his father, mother, and also Nyota. Despite the fact that their relationship had never involved the passion aspect, she was still a dear friend to him, someone he could count on to help guide him through life among humans.

Jim, he considered, was a little more difficult to place. He had no trouble admitting that he found Jim attractive, in body and mind. But he still didn't know Jim on a very personal level yet. He did know something about Jim's past romantic relationships, which seemed to fall under the category of romantic love, temporary arrangements with no certainty of commitment. He knew that Jim, despite his reputation as a 'ladies' man' had taken partners of the same sex and outside of his species. He recalled a day when he'd passed by sickbay and heard Jim telling McCoy that he thought Uhura a fool for breaking up with someone as handsome as him. He'd been grateful then that no one had been around to see him blush. But Jim's behavior had changed lately. As far as Spock could tell, Jim wasn't willing to risk his captaincy by having a cheap fling with a crewman, guest, or even a stranger on shore leave. Perhaps receiving captaincy had helped him grow out of his need for empty sex by letting him see his full potential. He'd also noticed, on occasion, that Jim would watch him on the bridge or in the mess, an oddly wistful look on his face.

Now that he thought about it, he had seen that same look in the eyes of his counterpart. He had that look anytime he looked at people who had, in his timeline, been long dead. That look seemed to intensify when his eyes were on Jim. It made him wonder about his counterpart's relationship with the other Jim Kirk. He knew they were friends, perhaps even best friends, but he didn't know much beyond that point. He also knew that his counterpart never married T'Pring either, but he didn't know who had eventually become his bondmate, or even how he'd escaped the original arrangement. He shook his head minutely and shut off his padd. He set it aside and settled down to sleep. Perhaps someday he would have some answers. For now, the possibility of Jim as a mate seemed like something worth tentative exploration, though he would be discreet for the time being. At the very least, the friendship his counterpart had promised was something he was looking forward to. They had over four years left on their mission, and he was going to see what would come of it. Maybe they would achieve that great friendship, or maybe they'd have even more than that. Either way, he had a feeling (yes, a feeling) that it was going to be an interesting next few years.

**I know this is still pretty short, but it turned out a lot longer than I thought it would be. I don't know much about the Vulcan language, so I hope I wasn't too off on that comment about it being more direct without too many different meanings per word. The bit about the Vulcan heart was taken from the episode Amok Time. I think I learned about Sternberg's theory and the term T'hy'la around the same time, not too long after the new movie came out in 2009 and I started reading Star Trek fanfiction. I don't actually recall which one I learned about first, but after learning of both, parts of the two kind of matched up. Friend kind of goes with intimacy and lover can go with passion. Unfortunately, brother and commitment don't quite match up, although if you're committed to anyone it's your family. Mostly, it was just the fact that they both involve three things to make an ideal relationship that caught my attention and gave birth to this. I decided to use my higher education in a creative way and wrote what I hope is a relatively intelligent sounding fic. I put a lot of thought into this and I'd really appreciate feedback on it, so please review! It's kind of necessary to my self esteem with all the work I put into this one.**


	2. Symbols

**I didn't originally mean for this to happen. This story was supposed to be a one-shot. But almost immediately after posting the first chapter, I thought of something else to compare T'hy'la to and I didn't want to rewrite the whole story just to include it. So I changed the stories status to in-progress and started writing this. This shorter second chapter takes place quite a while after the first one. It will switch between Jim and Spock's POV. I still don't own anything. I also want to apologize to everyone who had to struggle through the bunched up writing in the first chapter. I made a couple of changes after some reviews alerted me to the problem, so hopefully it's easier to get through. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, alerted, and added this to their favorite list! I hope this addition doesn't change your opinions, please review!**

Symbols

**Jim's POV**

Jim Kirk sat in on the bed in his quarters. His shift had ended twenty minutes ago. He was waiting on Spock. His shift had ended at the same time, but he had gone down to the labs to check on the experiments he was monitoring. They had a date tonight, and Jim knew that Spock wanted to make sure that everything was alright, that there would be no interruptions while they were together. He sighed. He was, as always, grateful for Spock's foresight. And for the delay.

They had been dating for a little over a year, starting shortly after the conclusion of the first year of the mission. Jim had been terrified at first. It had kind of been a shock to him when Spock suggested that they begin a romantic relationship. He'd looked up everything he could find about Vulcan courtship. Since most of their marriages were arranged in childhood, there wasn't much to go on. Vulcan's didn't really have much use for social interaction, so he didn't find anything about what they might like to do on dates. He'd mostly tried focusing on things he knew interested Spock, and that had served him pretty well as they began to get used to thinking of each other in a romantic sense. This relationship he had with Spock was the longest he'd ever had. He'd been going through things over and over in his head, and he was using this time alone to put the finishing touches on the speech he had planned for when Spock arrived.

**Spock's POV**

Spock was currently en route to Jim's quarters. He had to admit to a feeling of nervous anticipation. Jim had asked him to come to his quarters after their shift and other responsibilities were concluded for the day. He hadn't said anything else. He had actually seemed a little nervous himself. They'd been 'going out' as humans termed it for just over a year now. Their 'one year anniversary' had been just last week. Nearly six months after that day on New Vulcan, after getting to know Jim in more casual settings, such as chess games, meals, and shore leave, Spock became confident enough about their compatibility to initiate a romantic relationship between them. Jim had been surprisingly considerate, though nervous at first. Rather than suggest the typical human dating rituals like the classic dinner and a movie, he'd accompanied Spock on trips to museums, scientific lectures, and even a classical music concert. Eventually, they'd worked up to more human things, such as dining in public even going to some clubs together.

Both of them had made mistakes, of course. One trait Spock had been surprised to find in Jim was that he didn't seem to have the same need for verbal communication as most of the humans Spock had encountered. One of the factors that had led to the end of his relationship with Nyota was that she had grown frustrated with his inability to express himself with verbally. Jim preferred to express himself through actions rather than words. Spock was similar to him in that regard. Sometimes however, it was necessary, and that lack of verbal communication had led to misunderstandings on both ends. But both of them had learned to put aside their discomfort when it mattered and work things out by talking to each other. Another source of trouble was their difference in opinion on many matters, both personal and professional. It had taken a lot of patience from both of them to not only have a good relationship, but to become one of the best command teams that Starfleet had at their disposal. They also shared a fear of rejection, especially by those who were supposed to support them. Spock found his father's previous lack of acceptance similar to what Jim endured from his mother during his childhood.

Now, as he walked away from the labs and toward the captain's quarters, he wondered what could be causing Jim to feel nervous or anxious. Jim, while in some ways very restrained for a human, was far more adept than he at dealing with an emotional issue. He was just going to have to hope that Jim would be willing to be open about it. He pulled himself out of his thoughts as he arrived in front of the door to Jim's quarters. He requested entry.

**Jim's POV**

Jim heard the door chime and knew it was Spock asking to come in.

"Come in." He called. He heard the door open and shut. Spock rounded the divider to his sleeping area. His expression was, as always, pretty blank. His eyes, however, betrayed warmth.

"Good evening, Jim."

"Hey, Spock." Replied Jim with a smile. He patted the space on the bed beside him. "Could you sit down for a minute?"

"Certainly." Said Spock, sitting down where Jim had indicated.

**Spock's POV**

As Spock took his seat, he noticed Jim was staring over at his wall safe, and had begun to drum his fingers against his own leg, something that was an indication of annoyance for most people, but one of nervousness for him.

"Jim," he said gently, "is there something you wish to talk about?" Jim turned his gaze to him.

"Yeah," he said quietly, "there is." He got up, walked over to his safe, and punched in the combination. The lock opened and he reached in to pull out a square white box. He came back over to the bed and sat down again. He shifted the box from hand to hand, another nervous gesture. "Do you remember once, on New Vulcan, before we were dating, you explained the definitions of T'hy'la? And I talked about Sternberg's Theory of Love?" Spock nodded, a look of fondness crossing his face.

"Indeed I do. It was after that conversation that I began to seriously consider you in a romantic light." Jim's eyes widened.

"Really?" He asked. "I didn't know that. I guess I'm glad I talked about it." He gave a nervous laugh, then cleared his throat a bit. "Anyway, not to long after that, I thought of something else it reminded me of, sort of, but I just kept it to myself." He stopped fidgeting with the box and held it out to Spock. "This is what I thought of."

Spock took the box from Jim, looking at him questioningly. Jim began to explain.

"I wanted to give you this for our one year anniversary, but it didn't arrive in time. It reminded me of what we'd talked about before on New Vulcan, and I thought it would be appropriate." Curiosity piqued, Spock pulled off the lid and set in on the bed. Inside the box was a heavy silver pin, an antique. Jim knew that Spock wasn't really interested in wearing jewelry. The closest he had to it were two pins. One of them was the Vulcan IDIC symbol, and the other was a white awareness ribbon that his mother had received from her parents after she'd told them she was pregnant with him. She'd given it to him when he'd left home for the Academy and told him to give it to the mother of his child if he ever got married. The pin in the box was unfamiliar to him. It appeared to be a pair of hands forming a circle, the arms joining seamlessly at the top. At the bottom of the circle, the hands were holding onto the classic human heart symbol (which he had always found highly illogical due to the fact that there had yet to be discovered any species with a heart shaped that way) which was topped by a kind of crown that he'd seen in old paintings of earth royalty. Spock looked at him, puzzled.

"I have never seen this design before." Jim started to fidget again.

"It's called a Claddagh." He explained. "The three symbols each mean something different." He reached out and pointed at each of them as he spoke. "The heart means love, the crown means loyalty, and the hands mean friendship." He looked into Spock's eyes. "I thought about this because those are all things you described as what someone who's T'hy'la in all three ways provides for their partner. They're all things that you provide for me." He closed his eyes briefly, took a deep breath, and opened them again. "They're all things I really hope I provide for you." Spock couldn't totally stop his sharp inhalation at that. Having learned already to translate Jim's actions into speech, he knew that Jim was trying to say 'I love you' in his own way. He knew Jim loved him, just like Jim knew the same, but to be told in such a way, one that did indeed remind him of that day that marked the beginning of the change in their relationship, was just sweet, for lack of a more logical term.

**Jim's POV**

Jim really had to steel himself for what he was going to say next.

"We got past our first meeting and became friends. We got past our fears and fell in love. Both of those things made me happier than I ever thought they could. I think the only thing that could make me even happier is if we could get past my commitment issues and spend the rest of our lives together." Spock raised his eyes from studying the pin, staring at Jim.

"Do you really mean that Jim?" He asked quietly.

"I do." Jim replied. "I can't imagine my life without you in it. With everyone else I care about, even Bones, I can imagine talking on the comm every once in a while after we're all retired or working in various different places on Earth. They'd still be in my life, even at a distance. But with you, I can't imagine having you anywhere else other than with me." Spock's eyes looked a little shiny.

"Jim…" He just trailed off and leaned in to press his lips against Jim's. Jim pulled back after a moment with a smile.

"Is that a yes?" Spock did his own little version of a smile.

"It is." Jim tried to cover up his relief by lunging forward and kissing Spock eagerly, belatedly realizing that Spock, being a touch telepath, would surely notice it now. Oh, well. After a moment, he pulled back and asked,

"How are we going to break this to the crew? We didn't really tell anyone besides the senior staff." Spock smiled again.

"They may not be so surprised." Jim shook his head, amused.

"Suspecting that we're in a relationship based on rumors is totally different than having the fact confirmed by the people in question."

"That is true." Conceded Spock. "However, everyone agrees that we make 'the most adorable couple.' I am quite confident that they will be happy for us."

"Yeah, I'm sure they will be." Jim leaned forward and kissed Spock one more time. Then he stood up and held his hand out to Spock. "Come on, we might as well head down to the mess hall and start gathering up our closest friends first." Spock took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. "I have to say," remarked Jim as they headed for the door, "I thought Bones would beat me to popping the question." Spock looked at him quizzically before coming to a realization.

"Doctor McCoy plans to propose to Nyota?" Jim smirked.

"Yup. But you didn't hear it from me. I don't want him to think I was trying to steal his thunder." They walked out the door together, but not before Spock pinned the Claddagh to his collar in plain sight of anyone who might look.

**So this was shorter than the first one, though longer than I expected. Sorry about the abrupt ending. I'm really not good with endings. Like I said before, this came to me right after I posted. The thought of not mentioning it actually made me feel a little sick, and this happened. Once again, it was the whole concept of three, though with this one, you're mostly kind of supposed to apply all three to one person. Otherwise it doesn't make much sense to have them all together. And I do think that those are qualities found in the kind of T'hy'la that Kirk and Spock are, so I just had to write it. Also, about the awareness ribbon, one of the meanings of the plain white one is safe childbirth and motherhood. It sounded like a nice human thing for Spock to have from his mother. And the IDIC pin was something Spock had in the original series. Please review and tell me this wasn't a huge mistake!**


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